NYC natives find refuge in peaceful Northwest corner

greg seigle/register citizen
"This is the life," said Fritz Ravanes, center, as he sits in a rocking chair on the porch of the Cornwall General Store in Cornwall Friday. Ravanes and Niger Miles, left, and Shazdeh Omari, right, were among 17 New Yorkers who fled the city and its storm-related troubles and sought refuge in a rented country cabin for the weekend.

CORNWALL BRIDGE >> The corner of 7th Street and 3rd Avenue in Manhattan isn't anything like the intersection of Rt. 7 and Rt. 4 in Cornwall Bridge.

Which is why Brendan Irving sought refuge here, at the latter, to escape the chaos of the former in the East Village in the wake of the destruction caused by Superstorm Sandy.

Irving was among a group of 17 friends who fled storm-ravaged New York City in rented cars and found peace and tranquility in the rolling hills of Litchfield County, swarming the Cornwall General Store as they arrived.

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"This is the life," exclaimed Fritz Ravanes, a 34-year-old financial analyst from Queens, as he swayed back-and-forth in one of the rocking chairs on the general store's front porch.

"We've been locked up in our apartments all week," explained Caroline Leslie, 42, a performance artist from Brooklyn. "It's beautiful here, like a mini-vacation."

But it wasn't a vacation for Irving in Manhattan during the storm.

"The first night of the storm [Monday] I heard gunshots, it was bad," said Irving, a 30-year-old mustachioed actor, as he sat amongst the bunch eating sandwiches and chomping potato chips.

By Tuesday, the second night, "it was dark and scary" because the electricity was knocked out, Irving said.

"Everyone was walking around aimlessly," he continued. "It was like a [scene from a] zombie movie, except they weren't after brains, they were hunting for food."

While Cornwall and the surrounding area is known as a weekend getaway for New Yorkers and other urban dwellers seeking solace in the quaint countryside, this week it's been the destination point for more than people who own second, or vacation, homes here.

"We've seen a lot of new faces this week, a lot of strangers," said Louise Coogan-Beecher, who owns the general store - a gathering place for locals and weekend regulars - with her husband, Dana Beecher.

"People are happy to find some hot soup and the lights on."

The crowds at the general store having been streaming in all week from as far away as Jersey City, Coogan-Beecher said. "They all have battle stories about waiting for gasoline," she added.

While the couple had seen some groups of travelers visit the store in search of food, money, warmth - anything - they hadn't seen such a large gang as the one that stormed inside Friday afternoon.

"Whew. That was crazy," Cooger-Beecher said right after they left.

Not that she was complaining, for the increased numbers of shoppers translate to increased profits.

"We're so fortunate that we didn't lose power," said Dana Beecher, 62. "Last year [during the heavy October snowfall] we lost power, and it would've killed us if we lost power this year."

Brittany Anderson, 21, of Sharon, who works the counter at the deli, said "you got to remain calm" when there is such a "huge rush."

She said Friday had been the busiest - or "craziest" - day by far.

"Everybody wiped us clean," Anderson said, noting that there were no more hard rolls, subway buns or meatballs.

The group fleeing New York couldn't have been more thankful - not only for the delicatessens, but also for the down home country hospitality.

"Everything''s been great, we really appreciate it," said Leslie, the Brooklyn artist.

Her boyfriend, Niger Miles, a 32-year-old from Manhattan, said the group had planned to rent a cabin in the woods prior to the hurricane to celebrate a friend's birthday.

But the group encountered a couple problems.

First, the storm "made it more difficult" to get out of the city, Miles said.

And then there was the slight inconvenience that the high winds of the hurricane knocked down some trees, which destroyed the cabin they rented, he said.

Fortunately, the group was able to secure another cabin, he said.

"It's bigger and nicer anyway," Miles said, as a smile spread across his face. "So we made out alright."